Importance Of Beauty In Northanger Abbey And A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

Improved Essays
During the romantic period, society judged women on their beauty, something that they have no control over. This idea of beauty being pushed on to young girls and this made them feel as if beauty was the only thing that’s important, but the romantic period literature was going to change that. As shown in Northanger Abbey and A Vindication of the Rights of Women beauty is displayed as the single most important thing for women and the following of these set beauty standards, which is wrong and degrading to women, this then affects how women are depicted in literature, changing the work’s tone to be satirical, making fun of this idea, or rebellious, in going away from these beauty standards.
Instead of degrading women based on their beauty, women
…show more content…
A Vindication of the Rights of Women rebels against this idea of beauty standards, as well as bringing up excellent points as to why these beauty standards are wrong. She does this by encouraging women to “believe in their [own] strength of mind and spirit,” (Wollstonecraft 600) because she can not do this without their help. “I [Wollstonecraft] wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength both of mind and body” (Wollstonecraft 600). In other words, Wollstonecraft wants women to become stronger and start to believe in themselves, in hopes that one day they will be able to help her fight back against these beauty standards. Wollstonecraft knows that she needs help to do this, but in order to make these standards go away, she needed to prove her point to women as to why they should join her fight against these beauty standards. The way that she did this was to write this piece, in a rebellious tone to help her point to come across urgently. At this time writing like this was extremely radical, because of the way that Wollstonecraft just comes right out and states that these beauty standards need to go away. “Dismissing, then, those pretty feminine phrases, which the men condescendingly use to soften our slavish dependence” (Wollstonecraft 600), is an example of Wollstonecraft’s boldness and how she writes with a rebellious tone. This bold word choice helps her points to come across stronger and more urgent to society.In hopes that society feels as though they need to change these beauty standards. Based on just one part of this quote it shows how degrading these beauty standards were to women. By how Wollstonecraft used the term “slavish dependence” to show that these standards have caused women to believe that having a “slavish dependence” on their husbands is normal. When in fact it’s not and that’s why these standards need to go away. Women should not need

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Society has always had a slight disgust and misconception of a women. The negative approach of society towards a female figure is always directed towards a female’s body, what a female wears and what she does degrades her image of being the delicate goddess she was created to be. In the poem “The Lady dressing room” by Jonathan Swift and an essay titled “A Modest Proposal” also written by Jonathan swift. He uses tone, form and style to share a social problem of the time in which women are being morally attacked and degraded by man.…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women to defend the rights of women. Before 18th century women’s right weren’t much given. There were many continuities experience by women, socially women were still bounded by their duties in the household and is view to stay home and mange the house, like always. Politically women didn’t have any voice in the political status, they view inferior and weren’t given the right to vote. And economically women were pay less compare to men, women would only receive have of the wages that men receive, even thought they worked same amount of time.…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Austen’s representation of reading epitomises the excesses of the imagination exhibited by gothic readers during the movement of sensibility which effectively led to their disconnection from reality. Austen’s employment of the gothic presents Catherine’s transition from excessive gothic fantasy to reality, which fundamentally enables her to develop independent judgement through her exploration of human experience. Although Austen satirizes the excesses of the gothic through Catherine’s characterisation, Austen does not completely dismiss the truth behind the gothic. Richardson (2005: 399) explains how Northanger Abbey can be taken as a ‘particularly amusing satire on the tendency to read life through the lens of improbable fictions’. However,…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Oppression Of Manhood

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In her famous work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote about the oppression women in society face, and the ways in which they are denied an equal chance to participate in society and make the best choices for themselves. Many of Wollstonecraft’s arguments are connected not only with women, but with the conceptions of manhood prevalent at the time. Through revealing social norms and double standards towards women in society and references to other prominent writers of the age, Wollstonecraft shows that, while manhood was equated with freedom, reason, intelligence and superiority, the conception of manhood lacked responsibility and accountability. The pressure of remaining virtuous was placed solely on women, Wollstonecraft…

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through utilizing straightforward words, Wollstonecraft makes her argument clear and easily understandable that women should be viewed justly by others. Leaving men a choice: grant females the same rights as they have or continue to be…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, Wollstonecraft advocates for an improvement in the education of woman by providing arguments of how better education can benefit women. Wollstonecraft also emphasizes the importance of women being treated as rational beings rather than being suffocated with flattery and treated as if they are children. Wollstonecraft states, “My own sex, I hope will excuse me if I treat them like rational creatures instead of flattering their fascinating graces.” She uses this to establish her slight annoyance that women are treated as if they are delicate flowers instead of educated beings capable of being rational. Additionally, Wollstonecraft continues on to say “the neglected education of…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Antebellum Era, early feminist, although they did not directly referred to themselves that, criticizes English society’s treatment of women in justification of women’s rights. One of these women went by the name of Mary Wollstonecraft, who is known today for her efforts in the rights for women. She worked on emphasizing women’s female identity over her sexual identity, along with being educated. Wollstonecraft brings up countless times how women play in lowering recognition of their own sex, as well as their dependence on men. She always promotes how women are just as competent of reason and should be treated to men as equals.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Gender Roles In Candide

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Voltaire’s Candide: Women’s Role in Society Women during the 1700s, the time period during which the novel is set, understood they had very little power; and it was only through men that they could exert any influence. Women at this time were seen as mere objects that acted as conciliation prizes for the gain of power and their sole use was for reproduction. Maintaining the duty of tiding the home and looking after the children, no outlet for an education or a chance to make a voice for themselves. Men acted as the leading voice in society, making all substantial decisions for women. The hierarchy of genders was ever so present and was based on the physical differences between men and women.…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Her writings are “decidedly political” (230). She discusses relations between men and women in her work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft states, “It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are, in some degree, independent of men; nay it is vain to expect that strength of natural affection, which would make them good wives and mothers” (231). She explained that it is unlikely for women to be virtuous because they are “slaves.” “Women are, in common with men, rendered weak and luxurious by the relaxing pleasures which wealth procures; but added to this they are made slaves to their persons, and must render them alluring, that man may lend them his reason to guide their tottering steps aright” (235).…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Wollstonecraft ideology was that a woman is supposed…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wollstonecraft in her essay, integrates the idea of how women shouldn’t be considered different from men, nevertheless be considered…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jane Austen is known for being a writer of women, and romance, but she is a major influence of gender stereotypes after her time. In many of her works, Austen would flout at how femininity and masculinity were ruled by societal standards. Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey follows suit with this concept, by depicting her characters as what was expected of their gender to what was abhorred in upper-middle class and high society. The second to the youngest of eight children, Jane Austen was born on the seventeenth of December in 1775.…

    • 2031 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Influential Women's Rights

    • 1090 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The overall topic of the book is not hard to discern. It is, of course, women’s rights. Wollstonecraft immediately writes, “Contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all.” Her means of advertising her opinions is explicit. She creates no confusion about her intentions when she directly states her opinions on the matter.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Predominance and the Patriarchy: Feminist Criticism in Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen’s classic novel, although published in a time period where women were very repressed, contains contemporary feminist ideas. Each of Austen’s characters possess various quirks and flaws that show women are more than their stereotypes. Women can be strong and independent, but also kind and romantic. Jane Austen’s portrayal of women creates a commentary on the stereotypical views of women and the unjust patriarchal society that controls them.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is difficult for some people to go against the beliefs of the majority, especially when a topic is considered too controversial to challenge. In Margaret Atwood’s “My Last Duchess”, this happens to be the case for her female protagonist when her class studies a poem by Robert Browning that is also titled “My Last Duchess”, in which a Duke had his Duchess killed for his own selfish reasons. Unexpectedly, the young girl’s interpretation of the Duke is vastly different from the rest of her class, thereby leading her to struggle with having a contentious opinion in addition to dealing with the realities of womanhood and teenage relationships. The purpose of Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, in Margaret Atwood’s short story of the same…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays